


Matched Up

by ilya



Category: The 100 (TV), The 100 Series - Kass Morgan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Computer matched pairings, F/M, Season 1...ish, Sorta Fluffy, no violence, no wars
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-12
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-20 08:34:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30002160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ilya/pseuds/ilya
Summary: “We could just see what the computer says… If we don’t like what it says, we can ignore it” Clarke says.----Mankind is still (re)adapting to Earth and Chancellor Jaha decides to encourage computer-matched pairs between compatible single people.Unlikely pairings are suggested.... or maybe not that unlikely.
Relationships: Abby Griffin/Marcus Kane, Bellamy Blake/Clarke Griffin, John Murphy/Raven Reyes, Monty Green/Harper McIntyre
Comments: 3
Kudos: 63





	Matched Up

**Author's Note:**

> My first oneshot ever.
> 
> My first The 100 fic ever.
> 
> Just came into my mind today and I couldn't stop writing.
> 
> No beta. Just me and the thoughts in my head.
> 
> Enjoy!

I 

“We could just see what the computer says… If we don’t like what it says, we can ignore it” Clarke says.

The previous day, Chancellor Jaha had announced all the survivors, that the Ark computer had kept tabs on them while they were in space and that, based on that, they were able to create a software that had run an analysis on their personalities and preference and, based on that, determined the best matches that could be made between them. It was “not mandatory” to become a couple with your match, but the women that were single were “strongly encouraged” to check theirs and, perhaps think of starting a family with as many children as possible. For the sake of the human race.

Raven understood why such a move was necessary. The Ark had come to the ground for half a year, during which time no women got pregnant and no children were born. It had been a period of accommodation, coming after a long time in which having children was heavily regulated and restricted. Jaha had said from the start that the restriction on having children was being lifted as soon as they touched ground, but it wasn’t that surprising that no-one jumped at that, considering that most of them were still living in tents.

So late in the evening, at a time when most people were preparing to go to sleep, Clarke and Raven took advantage of Abby’s position in the council and logged on the Ark software at a time when access to the control room was restricted. They had both agreed that each would check their match privately and only talk about it if they wanted to pursue it.

Considering that their unlikely friendship had started when Finn had cheated on Raven with Clarke, without Clarke even knowing that Raven existed, the caution was understandable.

Clarke went first. Raven waited at the door. She had mixed feelings about the situation – how well could a computer predict her desires in a relationship and the things that made her click? 

When her friend came back, she asked: “Well?”

Clarke looked at her unsure and then said: “Bellamy Blake”

Everyone knew who that was, although none of them had ever interacted with him. The only person in the whole population to have a sister. Octavia had been kept hidden until the Ark reached the ground and their mother could no longer be floated for having her. It had created quite an uproar, although by the time they reached the ground, an extra human being was a good thing. 

“Are you going to do something?”

“I don’t know” Clarke shrugged. “I have no idea what kind of person he is. How can I decide?”

“You could try to get to know him without telling him. And decide afterwards.”

Clarke nodded.

“Are you going to try?”

Raven reluctantly went to the computer and logged in. The computer recognized her immediately and offered a name: John Murphy.

Bellamy Blake was at least someone they had heard of and could pick from a crowd. She had no idea who John Murphy was.

At Clarke’s curious look she just shrugged and offered nothing.

***  
Two weeks later, Clarke decided she wanted to talk to Bellamy but was running out of ideas on how to approach the situation. So, Raven came up with her own idea: they were still running small missions at places that were far enough away to require camping away from the Ark for a night or two. Clarke had already participated in some. She could try to volunteer for another. Every one of those missions required the presence of at least a member of the Guard, just in case some new Grounder tribe that was unaware of the truce decided to attack or, the more likely possibility of aggressive wild animals. Normally the guard member was randomly assigned, but Raven had the skills to ensure it was Bellamy.

Clarke was reluctant.

“I don’t know if I want to be alone with him for that long of a period of time. Can’t you come too?”

“Clarke, I’m a mechanic. I would serve no purpose in such a mission.”

“You could, if the mission involved taking care of some equipment or other.”

“I haven’t heard of such missions.”

“I’ll come up with something. Just promise that when I think of this, you’ll join us.”

“OK”

***

A few days later, Clarke had an idea for a mission that would require Raven’s presence. After the mission was approved by Jaha, Raven once again found herself in the control room, with Clarke watching the door.

Logging into the system was not difficult, as no-one was truly expecting a security breach of that sort. Finding the mission was easy. Then she noticed that for all missions, there had to be at least as many guards as technical personnel.

“Clarke” she whispered.

“What?”

“I have to assign a second guard.”

“What? Why?”

“The requirement is a guard for each of the non-military assigned to the mission.”

“Can’t you hack that?”

“Yes, I can, but wouldn’t it look fishy when we leave?”

Clarke sighed.

“Fine. Just… pick someone random. Whoever.”

Raven scrolled through the names available. And there it was. John Murphy. He was also a guard. 

***

The first time she saw him, he was leaning casually on the compound gate, talking to Bellamy. She had seen him around – she recognized his face although she was pretty sure they had never exchanged any words. He was not bad looking, even though he wasn’t necessarily the type of guy to attract a lot of attention.

“Hello” she said. “We are still waiting for Clarke and then we can go. I’m Raven, I’m the mechanic.”

They both nodded.

“I’m Bellamy, this is Murphy. We’re your assigned guards. How long will this take?”

“Hopefully, we’ll be back tomorrow, but I can’t guarantee. Got somewhere to be?”

Murphy smirked. Bellamy threw her a confused look but did not get a chance to reply.

“Hi. I’m Clarke. Let’s go.”

***

Clarke’s usually bubbly personality had suffered a complete 180. During the entire mission she turned into a focused person, with no time to chat, fixated on her job. Raven was sure it was her way of bracing herself and sort of understood where she was coming from, as she herself was not inclined to socialize. Whenever the thought crossed her mind to talk to any of the guys, she found herself at a loss of words. As such Bellamy and Murphy mainly chatted among themselves. From what she could tell, they were getting along well and were pretty in tune, although nothing they said to each other was anything other than mindless chatter.

Murphy seemed to have quite a snarky personality, which was something not often found among the people of the Ark. She could see why someone would think they made a good match, even when that someone was a computer.

***

In the evening, they put up a tent which all four were sharing. Bellamy and Murphy had time to shoot a rabbit which was now cooking. It smelled quite well. 

“So? Will we be going back tomorrow?” Bellamy asked again.

“Why? Got something better to do?” Clarke replied rather snappily. Anyone who didn’t know the situation would probably have assumed that she had a problem with Bellamy, but Raven somehow thought it was quite the opposite.

Bellamy raised his arms in defeat while Murphy chuckled.

“It’s natural curiosity. No need to get snarky.”

“I’m sorry.” Clarke replied. “It was a long day. Honestly, I don’t know if we are going back tomorrow. I am not done, and I don’t know if I’ll be done.”

Raven was not sure if that was the actual truth or if Clarke was trying to buy time. So, she decided to lighten up the mood.

“Are you guys familiar with Monty’s moonshine?”

Bellamy rolled his eyes but Murphy grinned: “I’m assuming you’re asking that because you’re offering.”

“I might be.”

“Now we’re talking.”

***

Two hours later, Raven and Murphy were pleasantly buzzed while Clarke and Bellamy only sipped a little bit of the moonshine and spent the rest of the time rolling their eyes.

At some point the foursome split between drunk and not drunk and with the little soberness that remained, Raven noticed that Clarke and Bellamy were finally bonding. 

***

The next morning, she had the mother of all hangovers and barely remembered anything but noticed with interest that Clarke and Bellamy had both taken over the proceedings and were leading Raven and Murphy with curt commands.

“Wow, I never thought I would see the day when Bellamy would share command” Murphy groaned next to her.

Raven grinned but stopped quickly at the sharp pain in her head. “Yeah, Clarke’s the commanding type too.”

“Yay” Murphy spoke non-enthusiastically. 

***

By the time they left, Clarke and Bellamy were in the front chatting idly, while Murphy and Raven were nursing their hangovers in the back. By the time they were back in the camp it was dinnertime and all four naturally went together. The next morning at breakfast, all four gravitated towards each other. And somehow, they started doing that from then on whenever they were all at the camp. Bellamy’s sister, Octavia, also started joining them. She had become friends with Jasper and Monty, who naturally joined after a while. 

II

Clarke had realized that she and Bellamy were a good fit pretty much since their first mission together. After that, whenever she needed to go on a mission, she asked for him. They made a good team. He was headstrong and a bit impulsive but listened to reason. Soon they were in tune and she no longer even had to ask for him, Jaha knew to assign them together.

They had become friends and she enjoyed the group they were hanging out with. Before that she was not a very sociable person. She had been friends with Wells, but he died. Finn was never really a friend. Raven’s friendship happened by accident. For the first time, Clarke started to feel like she belonged.

She realized she was interested in taking things beyond friendship with Bellamy quite early in the game but did not know how to approach it. She was not a natural flirt; her only romantic experience was with Finn and he was the initiator. She didn’t know how to start it naturally, but she also did not think it was a good idea to just drop it on him that the computer thought they were a good match. 

Other people took Jaha’s advice. Harper, a former classmate of Clarke’s, found Monty as her match and just joined them at breakfast one morning. In the evening they both announced that they were going to try being together. A week later they joined the waiting list for a house together. Months later, they were living together. It seemed so easy with them. 

Raven told her to bite the bullet and just tell him. Clarke wasn’t sure it was that simple. 

***

Her mother approached her one evening.

“Clarke…” she said rather hesitantly.

“What is it, mom?”

Her relationship with Abby had not been the easiest, since Clarke realized that Abby had been the one to turn her father in. But it was not as tense as it used to be.

“Clarke, I don’t even know how to say this. I was curious… one evening… I was alone in the control room. And I checked the software.”

“What software?”

“The matching software”.

Clarke’s eyes went wide. She hadn’t even realized Abby was in the software. 

“Mom, don’t take this the wrong way, but shouldn’t you be… ineligible for a… breeding program?” 

Abby smiled.

“I have not reached menopause, if that’s what you mean, so I technically can still have children.” Clarke opened her mouth to say something, but Abby interrupted her: “It doesn’t mean I want more children, Clarke. It’s the reason I am in the software, but not the reason I checked it. I checked it because I am curious and because… for the first time in a long time, we are living, not surviving, there is time I can spend for myself and… I am lonely.”

Clarke nodded: “For the record, mom, even though it would be weird to have a sibling 20 years my junior, I would not be completely against it.”

Abby smiled: “I don’t think I can handle a baby at this age, honestly. And, even if I am still technically capable, it is unlikely.”

“So, who is it?”

“I haven’t told him yet. I wanted to check with you to ensure that it is alright. If you are not OK, I will not take this further.”

“Mom, as you said. You are lonely. We are now living separately. Companionship is a natural desire. Who is it?”

“It’s… Marcus.”

“Marcus Kane?!”

“Yes.”

Clarke did not know how she felt about this. On the Ark, Kane was known as one of the “rough leaders”, making the tough decisions, sacrificing the few for the many, and so on. On the ground he had turned into a peacemaker and had been the one to initiate talk with the Grounders. Talks that eventually led to peace. 

She had not liked Kane on the Ark, but she agreed with him on the ground. Not so different from how she felt about her mother’s actions.

“I can see why they would match you two” she eventually said.

Abby smiled. 

“Now that it has been pointed out to me, I can see it too. I never thought about it, but now that the idea is out there….”

“…you can’t stop thinking about it.”

“Exactly.”

“Go for it.”

“Are you sure?”

“Mom, we have gone through rough times. But we are here, we are at peace, we are OK. We can start living like human beings. Might as well enjoy the perks.”

***

The next day was the first time she saw Kane flustered. She had no idea how her mother broke the news to him, but his demeanor changed completely.

It took a week for him to move in her mother’s rooms.

***

“Just tell him. You obviously want to.”

“I do. I just… I should have told him from the start. I waited for so long…”

“I’m sure he will understand why you waited.”

Clarke sighed.

“It won’t get easier with time. Actually, it might be the opposite.”

Just then, Bellamy and Murphy sat down at the table. Raven looked at her pointedly.

“Did we interrupt something?” Murphy asked with a raised eyebrow.

Count on Murphy to not leave that stone unturned, Clarke thought.

“No” she replied curtly and threw him a look meant to shut him up. He smirked into his plate.

Monty and Harper sat down at the table. 

“Hey guys” Harper greeted cheerfully. Everyone replied, except Clarke who just nodded.

“What’s up?” Monty asked looking at her.

“Clarke and Raven were having some heavy conversation, and Bellamy and I interrupted it. Now Clarke’s pissed” Murphy summarized.

“Murphy should learn to mind his own business.” She said snappily.

“Oh, I’m sorry for stating the obvious. I thought we should get the awkward stuff out of the way, so Monty and Harper don’t take your attitude personally. I mean, I’m assuming you want to stay friends with them.”

She threw him a pointed glare.

Octavia chose that moment to sit down at the table.

“I have no match.” She said without any other introduction.

Everyone looked at her in confusion.

“I checked the software this morning. I mean, everyone’s coupling up around us and I thought…”

“Octavia, you’re seventeen” Bellamy said. “No-one finds their match at seventeen. Besides, not everyone is coupling up.”

“It’s just a matter of time.” She sighed. “Just because the girl matched with you has not come to talk to you yet, it doesn’t mean she’s not out there. She might just not know who you are or something.”

Bellamy rolled his eyes. “O, we made quite some noise when you made an appearance. I’m sure everyone knows who we are.”

“Well, that’s not presumptuous at all” Murphy quipped. Bellamy threw him a glare.

“Yeah, whatever. Maybe she hasn’t checked it yet. Not everyone checked. But I checked! And the result was something like ‘no-one sufficiently compatible’. What does that even mean? I mean, what is sufficient?”

“Maybe they don’t have enough data on you since you basically did not exist until six months ago” Monty offered.

Octavia sighed. “So, I should spend more time on the Ark instead of outside, so that a nosy computer can find me a match?”

“You’re the one complaining about not having a match. The man is just giving you a possible explanation.” Trust Murphy to not beat around the bush.

“Yeah, okay. Thing is, people are starting to take this seriously. So, no guy is going to come to me, because they’ll assume I’ll just go to my match. But I don’t have a match.”

“You don’t need a match yet” Bellamy said again, obviously frustrated.

“Oh, come on, Bellamy, don’t think I don’t know that at my age you were hooking up with every available body.”

Clarke stiffened and Bellamy turned crimson.

“So, what you’re saying” Raven suddenly interfered “is that as long as this match program is running, the only new couples that will happen will be via the matching program? Which means that it doesn’t just give us suggestions, it limits our choices…”

“It certainly took away the romance of it all, yes” Octavia sighed. “I was having slightly different expectations of my time on Earth.”

“And what expectations were that, exactly?” Bellamy asked.

“I knew I shouldn’t hang out with you so much. You’re scary enough by reputation to have guys stay away from me. And now they just stay away because I don’t have a match.”

“You could just try to approach a guy you like. If you like a guy, that is. You don’t have to say he’s a match, but he’ll probably assume.” Jasper had appeared at the table sometime in the middle of this conversation.

Octavia seemed to consider this.

“How? Harper, how did you…?”

“I just told Monty. And he said OK” 

“Raven, Clarke, have you guys checked your matches?”

Both girls stiffened and everyone at the table started looking at them.

“You did.” Murphy raised an eyebrow. “How interesting.”

“Oh, shut up, Murphy!” Clarke sat up and ran out. 

Five minutes later, as she was sitting outside the gate, Bellamy just sat down next to her.

“She’s seventeen” he emphasized. “There really is no point in talking about matches yet. I haven’t even gotten used to her flirting.”

“She’s finally free, for the first time in her life. It’s understandable that she would want to…” Clarke choked on tears and Bellamy looked at her, worried.

“Clarke?”

“It’s you, OK? You are my match! And I asked Raven to log in to the system and assign you as a guard to my mission because I wanted to get to know you!”

Bellamy’s mouth opened.

“Oh. Wow.”

“I’ve been thinking of ways to tell you for a while now. It seemed so easy with Harper and Monty. Hell, even my mother, and she’s not one to… “

“Hey, it’s OK.” He said. “You know, just because the computer says we match, it doesn’t mean we have to…” he reddened.

Clarke did not know what to make of that. Did he not want to or was he not sure she wanted it?

“I mean…” he stammered. It was the first time she saw him flustered, and he reminded her a bit of Kane on that day.

“Yeah.” She said.

“Do you…” he started.

“Yeah”

“Oh. Wow. I…“ he blinked. “Yeah, me too.”

III  
Clarke and Bellamy became annoyingly inseparable. They applied for a house within weeks.

Octavia was right: the couples forming around them were all based on the matches. Regular flirting was rare and never serious.

But because there was more serious coupling going around, there were also way more requests for houses, so Clarke and Bellamy found themselves at the end of a very long line. After calculating how long it would take to actually get a house, they asked Abby and Kane if they could just build one themselves. Jaha approved reluctantly. The group offered to help, and suddenly daily meals turned into full workdays together. 

Clarke designed the project. Bellamy and Murphy did the hard labor. Raven, Jasper and Monty were working on the wiring and appliances. Octavia and Harper were helping with food.

***

The house was ready and the best way to celebrate it was with a party. Monty brought ample supplies of moonshine, while Murphy and Bellamy stretched their weary muscles.

Jasper found a portable music player and turned it up. Monty and Harper almost instantly started dancing.

Clarke just sat next to Bellamy: “if you ever feel like you can walk again, you could ask me to dance”

Bellamy smiled: “Nuh-uh. I don’t dance”

“What do you mean you don’t dance?”

“I don’t dance, and it has nothing to do with the state of my muscles.”

“Oh no, have we finally found a flaw in the computer’s matching?” Murphy toasted. “Here’s to imperfect matches”

“Murphy, how did you end up hanging out with us?” Octavia asked, slightly tipsy.

“Bellamy and I drew the short straw for Clarke’s mission. So here we are.”

He looked at his glass and had a sip: “I don’t even know what that mission was anymore. What were we doing?”

“You were being hungover.” Clarke pointed a slightly unstable finger at him.

“Hey, in my defense, it wasn’t me who brought out the booze.”

“Hey, in my defense, you took it.” Raven quipped.

“You don’t just say no to perfectly good booze.”

“Thank you, I approve” Monty toasted.

“Actually, we didn’t draw the short straw.” Bellamy said. 

“Sorry?” Murphy said.

“Clarke had checked her match and asked Raven to assign me to her mission.”

“Oh. Wow. How cute.” Murphy took another sip of the moonshine. “So how did Raven know that we usually get assigned together?”

“It’s not like it was some secret, Murphy” Bellamy chuckled but then he noticed Clarke eyeing Raven with interest and stopped talking.

***

Everyone is asleep. Everyone but Raven, that is, who decided to go outside and watch the starts for a bit. The one thing she misses about the Ark is the full view of the stars – on the Earth, the trees and clouds were sometimes keeping them hidden.

Luckily, Clarke and Bellamy had picked a good spot for their house and the stars are in full view tonight.

“Hey Reyes” she hears Murphy’s voice and feels him sit down next to her.

“Murphy” she nods.

“I have questions.”

“You always have questions.”

“Yes. So do you, actually. Most of the time anyway. And you’re quite snarky.”

“I haven’t noticed.”

He smirks.

“So how did you pick my name, Reyes?”

Raven rolls her eyes.

“You know damn well how I picked your name, Murphy.”

“Yeah, I think I do.”

Long pause.

“I need at least another month to recover before I start working on another house, Reyes. Just saying.”


End file.
